Hackamore



H. O. JONES May 20, 1952 HACKAMORE Filed July 11, 1950 INVENTOR. Huber) 0. dunes BY flail-0K ATTORNEYS Patented May 20, 1952 S'IUQQTIEIS PATENT OFFICE 2,597,736 HACKAMORE Hubert O; ,J ones, Nogales, Ariz. viral-ensures 11, 1950, Serial'No. 173,190

This invention relates to a hackamore for controlling a horse and is an improvement on that of my Patent No.2463,'27 9. I l lackamores made in accordance with my patent have proven highly successful'and popular when used on large or fully grown animals, but I have found that they may be too .severe when used .on young or undersized horses, especially in the hands of inexperienced riders.

The object of my present invention is to pr o vide a hackamore which pretains all the advantages of my said patented hackamore, can be used with equal effectiveness and satisfaction on horses of all sizes.,,and will be less severe when used on young or small horses.

In a hackamore of this type it is important, especially when used on young horses, that the nose-piece be located high enough on the nose so that the squeezing action which results from a pull on the reins will be resisted by the bony structure of the head, thereby avoiding restriction of the nasal passages, and that the distance :between the pivotal mounting of the rein levers and the attachment of the reins thereto be reduced so as to relieve the severity. of the action resulting from a pull on the reins. It is also desirable that the contracting action of the chin strap be substantially in the same plane as that of the nose-piece.

These advantageous results are accomplished in a hackamore embodying my present invention, in which the nose band is connected to the upper portion of the cheek-plates, the contracting action of the chin strap on the jaw of the horse is in substantial alignment with that of the nose band, and the rein levers are comparatively short. The combined result of these changes is to reduce the leverage and avoid the distorting action which results from a pull on the reins of a hackamore made in accordance with the disclosure of my patent.

In the drawing, Figure 1 shows my improved hackamore as it will appear in use on a horse, with the reins hanging loosely; Fig. 2 shows a similar view with the reins under tension; Fig. 3 shows an enlarged perspective of the metal parts, and Fig. 4 a top plan view thereof looking in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 3.

A hackamore embodying the present invention is shown in the drawings as including a nose-piece I, a cheek-plate 2 pivotally attached to each end of the nose-piece and a lever 3 of bell-crank form pivotally attached to the outer end of each cheekplate. Each lever 3 has a long rein-attaching arm a and a short arm b, with the arms b of 1 claim. (or. "54-45) the two levers connected by the customary chin strap or equivalent member 4, When the reins are not stressed theleverarms a are suspended freely from their pivotal supports and thearms 22 extend slightly towards the rear with the chin strap hanging loosely,

Each cheek-plate 2 is substantially of L-form with the long arm 0 thereof extending, alongside the horses nose and pivotally connected at its outer end to the adjacent end of the nosepiece 'I, which, in the present instance, is of curved bariorm. The otheror short arm (I of the cheekplate 2 extends lengthwise of and toward the lower endof the horses head substantially in line with the respective side-of the mouth, and it is to this arm that the respective lever 3 is pivoted at 5 in offset relation to the longitudinal axis of the long arm 0 of the cheek-plate. As shown in Fig. 4, the arm d is split or. forked to receive the respective lever 3, with the pivot 5 of the lever extending between the fork arm and having bearings therein. The crotch end of the fork is intended to coact with the lever to limit its rearward swinging movement relative to the cheekplate.

Provided in the upper end of the short arm d of each cheek-plate 2, substantially in the longitudinal axial line of the arm 0, is an opening 6 of slot-form with which the head strap 1 of the device is engaged, so that each cheek-plate 2 is suspended and held in position on the horses head by such strap. The pivot 5 of each lever 3 is located near the outer end of the respective arm (1 in substantially the longitudinal axial line thereof, With such line intersecting the longitudinal axial line of the long arm 0, in the present instance, substantially midway the ends of the strap-attaching slots 6. This arrangement positions the lever pivots 5 in downwardly offset relation to the longitudinal axes of the cheek-plates and in the line of suspension of the head straps I.

The levers 3 difier somewhat from those of my said former patent by a shortening of the long arms a relative to the short arms and by extending the short arms b directly radial to the pivots 5 so that the inner ends of the levers are of inverted V-form. The long arms of the levers have holes 8 in their outer ends to which the reins 9 are attached, and also have a flexible tie connection 10 therebetween, as is customary with devices of this character.

In the use of my improved device, it is found that both the shortening of the power arms a of the levers 3 and the particular relationship of the lever pivots to the longitudinal pull of the cheekplates 2 on the nose-band l cooperate to reduce the opposed binding action of the nose and chin pieces I and 4! over the action imposed by the corresponding pieces of the device shown in my said former patent when the same pulling force is applied to the reins of the two devices. This makes the present device more adaptable for use on colts or small horses and more humane in its action than said former device, which latter is intended for use particularly on full sized horses.

Another feature of improvement of the present device over that of my former patent is the limit of tightening movement of the rein levers relative to the cheek-plates. In the present case, the levers strike the bottom walls of the lever-receiving slots in the cheek-plates 2 and permit the levers to be swung rearwardly from the normal hanging position shown in Fig. 1 for a limit of approximately 45 relative to said plates or to the position shown in Fig. 2.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction, arrangement or form of the parts, as it is capable of numerous modifications and changes without departing from the spirit of the claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

A hackamore for controlling horses comprising a head strap attached to a pair of cheek plates each of L-shaped form with the longer arm extending forward on the side of the horse's nose and with the shorter arm extending downwardly lengthwise of its nose adjacent the mouth of the horse, a curved nose piece extending across the front of the nose of the horse and pivotally connected at its ends to the long arms of the L- shaped cheek plates, the shorter arms of the L- shaped cheek plates being slotted to a depth substantially equal to an extension of the lower surface of the elongated arms of the cheek plates, a V-shaped angle bell crank lever pivoted within the short arm of the L-shaped lever within the slotted portion thereof, said pivot being an extension and in line with the head strap, the shorter arms of the V-shaped lever having openings therein to receive the ends of a chin strap, the longer ends of the V-shaped lever having openings in their outer ends to receive the ends of the reins, the upper wall of the slot in which the V-shaped lever is pivoted acting as an upward stop for the shorter arms having the chin strap mounted thereon when the outer end of the V- shaped lever is pulled on by the reins.

HUBERT o, JoNEs.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 721,894 Johnson Mar. 3, 1903 2,463,279 Jones Mar. 1, 19%? FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,698 Great Britain 1898 

